


Respite

by MoominQuartz (IceCreAMS)



Series: Fluff Bingo [7]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Crying, Drabble, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Season/Series 05 Spoilers, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:15:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23205325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceCreAMS/pseuds/MoominQuartz
Summary: Connie and Steven get a moment alone for the first time in weeks. Set shortly after CYM.
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran & Steven Universe
Series: Fluff Bingo [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1655521
Comments: 7
Kudos: 78
Collections: Writing Squad Fluff Bingo





	Respite

It is weeks after the Era 3 ball when Steven and Connie finally get a chance to be alone again. Connie’s surprised by how much taller he’s gotten in such a short span of time. He’s almost her height, now. 

But then again, Connie supposes that the weeks in between have felt like years.

“How are you doing?” Connie asks as she steps into his house.

“Good,” he says, his voice sounding somewhat detached. “You?”

She hasn’t been. Nightmares have plagued her with such frequency, with such intensity that she wakes up in her parents’ arms, that she can no longer claim restful sleep. She opens her mouth to say as much, but the crushing guilt slams her mouth shut. How can she say she hasn’t been well if the same thing hasn’t been bothering Steven, who went through so much worse?

“Yeah,” Steven says, when she finds herself unable to respond. “Yeah.”

Steven’s loft is in a state of upheaval. They’re preparing to renovate it, to give Steven more room to himself. Since apparently what Steven needs right now is more space. So instead of heading up, they plop down on the couch in the living room, where he’s got the TV set up.

Neither of them move to turn it on.

“You know,” Connie says after a beat, “you don’t have to say you’re good when you’re not.”

“I know.” 

This time his voice hiccups. Connie wraps her arm around him and pulls him in to her, feeling his shoulders tremble — or maybe that’s her own.

“Hey,” she murmurs, gentle. “It’s okay to just… cry it out.”

“I know,” he whispers, softer.

And for the first time since they got back from Homeworld, they sit in silence, alone together, and mourn without the words to articulate what exactly it is they’re mourning.

**Author's Note:**

> This is not particularly "fluffy," and I am so sorry, Cara. You gave me the prompt Connverse + "cry it out", with Steven the one crying, and... I also fudged it a bit because they are both crying. I hope you enjoyed this drabble anyway.
> 
> Title comes from the fact that Steven is already feeling like he can't cry around them, because none of them know what happened. But he can cry around Connie, about this if nothing else.


End file.
